To:V. M. MOLOTOV FOR ALL MEMBERS OF THE POLITBUREAU OF THE R.C.P.(B.) C.C.

Published:First published in 1965 inCollected Works, Fifth (Russian) Ed., Vol. 54.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1976,

      Moscow,Volume 45,

      pages434b-435a.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet ArchiveYou may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

To Molotovfor allmembers of the Politbureau

1)Chicherin’spapers show that he is
sick.[1]We must
ask thebestdoctors urgently whether it is better to

a)postpone his whole leave (six months) until after
Genoa?Will he be able to stand the pace?

b)or let him have a rest right away for one month or
five weeks, from 18.I. to 22.II., which leaves two
weeks until 8.III., and special leave after Genoa?(bseems to be the only correct
approach).[2]

2)Thingsat the P.C.F.A. appear to be in a state of
dangerous chaos. Is it not risky to dispatch all the best
men from the P.C.F.A. to Genoa, leaving a hole at the
P.C.F.A. here?

Thisquestion should be placed under the most immediate,directsupervision by the Politbureau.

3)Specialresponsibility must be placed on someone
(perhaps Litvinov + Vorovsky + Joffe + P. P. Gorbunov?)
for seeing that when Chicherin and the whole delegation
leave for Genoa,allP.C.F.A. affairs are handed over tospecifiedpersons incompleteorder.

Someoneof the most experienced diplomatists should
be left to head the P.C.F.A. for the entire Genoa
period.[3]

4)Thebest and completely reliable cipher clerks should
be found right away with the assignment to prepare the
most reliable codes for Genoa (with keyschanged every
day) for the entire Genoa period.

[1]Intwo letters to the Politbureau of the R.C.P.(B.) C.C. of
January 15, 1922, G. V. Chicherin, in connection with the holiday
offered to him, characterised the state of affairs at the People’s
Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.

Hesaid the work was not going smoothly because of a shortage
of trained personnel and added that there was no one at the
Commissariat who was informed about the whole range of questions.
He wrote that it was impossible for him to go on holiday just
then. It would take him several months to hand over his affairs
and introduce someone to all his duties at the Commissariat,
something it was absolutely impossible to do during the intense
preparation for the Genoa Conference. Chicherin insisted that
“a holiday at the present time is tantamount to my total
departure” (Central Party Archives of the Institute of
Marxism-Leninism of the C.P.S.U. Central Committee).

[2]Thequestion of Chicherin’s leave and medical treatment was
examined at several sittings of the Politbureau, and he was given
leave after the Genoa Conference.

[3]OnJanuary 26, 1922, the Politbureau of the R.C.P.(B.) C.C.
instructed A. A. Joffe, J. A. Hanecki and P. P. Gorbunov “to
prepare the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs for being in a state
of complete clarity and precision of work by the time Comrades
Chicherin and Litvinov leave.... To bear in mind the possibility
of Comrade Karakhan’s being summoned in the absence of
Chicherin and Litvinov, and also the possibility that one or two
comrades from the diplomatic section of the delegation will have
to take turns staying in Moscow to carry on” (Central Party
Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.P.S.U.
Central Committee).